SUDBURY, ON (February 27, 2012) – Top marks in mine design, rock mechanics and mineral processing events propelled the Bharti School of Engineering team from Laurentian University to a first-place finish in the 22nd Annual Canadian Mining Games, held February 23rd-26th in Sudbury, Ontario. The team from Laurentian ranked among the top three in 12 of the events that make up the competition, completing the Games with a 27-point margin of victory. The team from Polytechnique in Montreal placed second overall, while Université de Laval took third place.

“The competition was fierce,” said Ramesh Subramanian, Director of the Bharti School of Engineering at Laurentian University. “All of the teams were exceptionally strong this year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an extraordinary level of proficiency and talent in this competition.”

Teams of engineering students from ten universities across Canada take part in the competition, a series of 20 challenges that test the skills of future mining engineers. Competitors must complete exercises in surveying, mine and equipment design, and mineral separation. They must also demonstrate mastery in jackleg drilling and operation of scoop trams and excavating equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

Montréal, Sunday, February 26, 2012. “The survey by Léger Marketing on the mining industry confirms the relevance and importance of our work over the last four years” stated Ugo Lapointe of the Coalition Québec meilleure mine (Better Mining Coalition). According to the survey, a majority of residents of Québec including the Abitibi region (the most active mining area of Québec) agree that there is a need for further reforms to improve royalties, environmental protection and respect of citizens’ rights. “It’s very encouraging. It shows that our positions are supported by the people of Québec, even in the mining regions where the industry lobby is most active” added Lapointe.

Conducted between February 17 and 19 for the Journal de Montréal the survey questioned 600 people, with a good representation of respondents from Abitibi-Témiscamingue. Results of the survey include:

- 59% of the Québec population judges current royalties to be insufficient, including 73% of Abitibi-Témiscamingue residents Read the rest of this entry »

The Toronto Star, has the largest circulation in Canada. The paper has an enormous impact on federal and Ontario politics as well as shaping public opinion.

Reuters News Agency

BRUSSELS—Commodities trader Glencore’s takeover of mining group Xstrata will face European Commission antitrust scrutiny, the companies said on Friday, kicking off a global regulatory process that could take months.

In a statement that follows a period of negotiation, the two firms involved in the proposed $90 billion (U.S.) combination said they had agreed to officially notify the commission about the deal.

That notification, once it has been acknowledged by the commission itself, leaves the regulator with 25 days to decide whether to approve, reject or begin an in-depth probe into the plan to create the world’s fourth-largest miner. It is just one of a series of antitrust hurdles the two companies will have to clear.

Some in the industry had expected Glencore and Xstrata to largely sidestep the EU antitrust process—and a possible probe—as Brussels has in the past considered the companies to be a single entity for the purposes of competition rules, given Glencore’s longstanding 34 per cent holding in Xstrata. Read the rest of this entry »

“The best mineral deposit has no value if government regulations and taxation prevent production.” The latest ratings from the Fraser Institute see some significant changes from a year ago.

RENO (MINEWEB) - New Brunswick in Canada has vaulted to the top of rankings as the world’s most attractive jurisdiction for mineral exploration and development according to the Fraser Institute’s latest survey of mining companies.

The survey of 802 mining exploration and development companies on the investment climate of 93 nations, provinces and states ranked Honduras as the worst jurisdiction for mining exploration and development.

The companies participating in the Fraser Institute’s Survey of Mining Companies: 2011/2012 reported exploration spending of US$6.3 billion in 2011 and US$4.5 billion in 2010.

“New Brunswick shot to the top of the rankings as miners lauded the province for its fair, transparent, and efficient legal system and consistency in the enforcement and interpretation of existing environmental regulations,” said Fred McMahon, Fraser Institute vice-president for international policy research and survey coordinator. Read the rest of this entry »

The decision by the Ontario Labour Relations Board to directly send the discharges of eight Steelworkers to arbitration is one of the most far-reaching made by the board in a decade, said United Steelworkers lawyer Brian Shell.

The board ruled in favour of the union Friday and is directing Vale to enter into arbitration to decide the fate of eight men fired during United Steelworkers’ bitter year-long strike against Vale.

Shell said the decision goes to the core of collective bargaining, “the core of the right to strike and to the core of the dig-n ity unionized workers are entitled to by joining a union, by having a bargaining agent and by having that bargaining agent do collective bargaining for them.

“It goes right to the heart of the entire system of labour relations,” Shell said. Vale has had little to say about Friday’s decision other than to release this statement Saturday afternoon that its team continues to “review and assess” the board’s 29-page decision. Read the rest of this entry »

The Globe and Mail is Canada’s national newspaper with the second largest broadsheet circulation in the country. It has enormous influence on Canada’s political and business elite.

CALGARY— Supporters of Alberta’s oil sands say Ontario needs to do more to publicly defend the resource, including standing up for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline, since its economy is the country’s second-largest beneficiary from the production of the gooey bitumen.

According to Alberta Premier Alison Redford, in Chicago for a few days talking up her province’s oil and gas industry, Quebec also needs to do its part to tell Alberta’s story. This is particularly important, she said, on the issue of the $7-billion pipeline that would link Canada to Texas, a project delayed by the White House.

And the rookie Premier, set to soon visit New York and Washington as well, isn’t alone. Pundits and industry are also calling on the have-not provinces to come to oil-rich Alberta’s aid.

“We in Alberta have a resource that matters to the rest of the country,” Ms. Redford recently told members of the Small Explorers and Producers Association of Canada in Calgary, “It’s not enough for Alberta to be talking about the importance of Keystone in the United States. Read the rest of this entry »